Fake Bunt

[FP26]

Lol ... it took me two years to get used to the dugout cheers. Love it now ... but it was something that I had to get used to.

Still have not gotten used to the cheering. Luckily for me, they seem to age out of it to a certain extent. 12u was mind numbing. 14u was a little better. 16u was better yet. At 18u there is very little of it. They do some cheering for their teammates but really no more than my high school baseball team did. Played in our first 23u tournament this past weekend and they seemed more interested in the props (rally hats, etc.) that you see at some colleges, than the cheers that were used at younger ages.

 

[_MIA_]

The better baseball schools in our area all will use the slash play. Weird that you don't see it much is fastpitch in our area.

Wow..ok. Well my experiences are watching MLB and college baseball now and playing LL to College 25 years ago so maybe
my experiences are not typical for what goes on nowadays in HS/TB baseball.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Still have not gotten used to the cheering. Luckily for me, they seem to age out of it to a certain extent. 12u was mind numbing. 14u was a little better. 16u was better yet. At 18u there is very little of it. They do some cheering for their teammates but really no more than my high school baseball team did. Played in our first 23u tournament this past weekend and they seemed more interested in the props (rally hats, etc.) that you see at some colleges, than the cheers that were used at younger ages.

This was the cheering I was referring to. A lot of positive encouragement. In my experience ... a lot more positive encouragement than I observed on baseball teams.

Heck, turn on a college softball game ... flip back and forth between a college softball game and a college baseball game ... you don't even have to be watching the game ... the background cheering that you hear coming out of the TV makes it clear whether there is a softball or baseball game on.

 

[FP26]

This was the cheering I was referring to. A lot of positive encouragement. In my experience ... a lot more positive encouragement than I observed on baseball teams.

Heck, turn on a college softball game ... flip back and forth between a college softball game and a college baseball game ... you don't even have to be watching the game ... the background cheering that you hear coming out of the TV makes it clear whether there is a softball or baseball game on.

That type of cheering I am fine with. Supporting your teammates... Getting pumped up... It's the cheering that is done at the younger ages that I can do with out. At one point i thought it was cute, but inning after inning, game after game started to get to me. "We want a single, just a little single, S-I-N-G-L-E, single, single, single...". There are aspects of younger softball that I miss, but that isn't one of them.

 

[justanotherguy]

HA, oh lord my DD HATES chanting. Obviously coming from baseball, they typically squashed that around 10u. Her current team does not cheer, thank God! Some of the teams still do, and my wife and I just can't stand it. I'll literally get a headache from some of these teams. Funny story, ONE time her team started to chant just a touch. When she started to go up to bat they started to chant something about her. She turned around and gave a super stern NO to the dugout. They stopped chanting after that. LOL

 

[Tango]

Wow..ok. Well my experiences are watching MLB and college baseball now and playing LL to College 25 years ago so maybe
my experiences are not typical for what goes on nowadays in HS/TB baseball.

\

Around 15 years ago I coached HS baseball and most teams that were in the playoffs would slash with runners moving (hit and run slash). You had to prepare for it. One of the coaches now has a couple of JUCO rings and was the first I can remember using the slash play. My brother played HS ball for him and I was screaming read it he's going to slash. He chewed my brother out for telling me the signals. He hadn't of course. The beat us to get the state finals. We went the next year.

 

[MNDad]

My problem with "bunt and slash" is developmental teams doing it where girls don't know any better yet than top charge the second they see the batter square up to bunt. Sure they should be coached better, but the coaches might be some schmuck who was the only one they could talk into the job. I don't mind it at the A level where corners should know how to protect themselves. I've seen pitchers put a stop to it as well. Not mine of course...

 

[julray]

Wait to you find yourself competing for a national berth ... the game gets even more competitive (i.e., dirty). Just saying that if you plan to compete with the big girls, then be prepared for more of what you may consider 'dirty'.

Competed with the big girls.. they didn't use that tactic.. Did they fake bunt and slap/slash.. yes. I have no problem with it. But fake bunt and full swing so the ball ends up down the 3rd baseman's throat.. that's not something I see. It's not what I "consider" dirty, it is dirty and dangerous.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Competed with the big girls.. they didn't use that tactic.. Did they fake bunt and slap/slash.. yes. I have no problem with it. But fake bunt and full swing so the ball ends up down the 3rd baseman's throat.. that's not something I see. It's not what I "consider" dirty, it is dirty and dangerous.

 

[julray]

Imagine that ball lined at a 12 year old girl 15 feet away.. congrats you won the national title.. yet seriously injured a girl! I know which choice I'm making. The game is what we make it... and this shouldn't be a part of it. It's up to us to teach our young ladies respect